Stoker



May 19.23.

Filed Jan. 25

:s sheets-sheet 1 George Mac/7er J5 May '/1, T923.

1,453,482 G.IH. THACHER, .1R

STOKER Filed Jan. 23, 1920 s'sheets-sheet 2 May 1, i923," l 1,453,482

' G. H. THACHER. JR

sToKER Filed Jan. 23 1920 3 SheetS-Sheet 5 y end of one of thev bearing bars.

Patented May l, 1923.

narran stares more@`- Application filed January 23, 1920.v Serial No. 353,423.

To oZZ whom t may concern Be it known that I, GEORGE H. THACHER, Jr., a citizen of the United States, residing at North Providence, in the county of Providence, State of Rhode Island, have invented certain new and useful' Improvements in Stoker-s; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full', clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in thev art to which it appertains to make and use the saine.

This invention relates to an improvement in hand stokers of the general type shown and described in my Patent No. 1,302,453,

granted April 29, 1919, wherein the Stoker bars and cleaning grates are mounted to rock on inclined bearing-bars"eXtending from the front to the rear of the furnace, and wherein the stoker bars are connected together usually in two series, to rock independently, whereby to advance the fuel toward the cleaning grate and to clean the Stoker bars.

An object'of the present invention is to provide an improved 'arrangement for hold` ing the inclined bearing-bars in place in the furnace, in such manner' that while they cannot move bodily in either direction, they may freely expand and contract under ternperaturer changes without affecting the operation of the stoker,'and to provide an improved vvform of coking plate.

"A further object is to provide an arrangement for facilitating theassembl'ing ordisassembling ofthe grate sections;

f'The particular nature ofthe several features `of the inventiomas well as other 'advantages thereof will appear most clearly from aV description'ofcerta'in preferred embodiments as shown in theaccompanying drawings, in which iFig. 1 is a section' through a furnace Showing the rentire Stoker in side el'eva'tionbut with partsin section; f

' Fig. '1*1 is a perspective view of the upper Fig.v 2 is a plan View of the bearing bars and coking plate;

Fig. 3`shows`the cross-bearing bar and coking plate as viewed from the interior of the furnace, the bearing bars being shown in transverse section;

Fig. 4 shows the coking plate as viewed from the opposite direction; y

Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional view of t"" ,han`ges-" in temperature.

the coking plate along the line 5-5 of Fig.

4,' and 'F ig. Gfis an end view of the same on the'line 6 l-6'of Fig. 4.

F ig. 7 shows the cros'sbearing bar.

Referring t`o the drawings, 1 indicates the front 'wall of the furnace, 2 the bridge wall,

and; 3 and the side Walls, T he front wall is provided; with a suitable number of door'- ways'c'losed by fire-doors." A supporting member or boX 6 is embedded in each' of the sidewalls near the inner face of the front wall, andth'ese members are adapted to rec'ei've' the endsof a cross-bearing bar 7, which extends parallel to the inner face of the front' wall, but is spacedI a: short 'distance therefrom', as shown most clearly in ig. 1.

ingof an' "upperJ main! portion"10, provided with a numberof curved recesses l1 for receiving thetrunnionsof the Stoker bars and cleaning grate. The bearing' bars may be strengthened by bracing members 12 extending from :one endto the other. The upper end ofe'ach bearing bar is'provided with a horizontal' surface as at 153 adaptedl to rest upon the' bottom of one ofv the notches 8 inv the cross-bearing ba'r 7, `and in order to hold the bearing bar in place there is provided a l'i'i'g` 14 integral with the inclined bearingbr which 'iengagesthe outer( face of the cross-bearingbar, 'as shown' most clearly in Bylvi'rt'ue of Ithe"construction thus described, the' upper end of eachI bearing b'ar' is`i`1`n`mov`ably' attached to the cross-bearing bar 7,but` in order'to allow for eXpansion of the bearing bars,`t heir lower ends are mountedinboxe's 15.` e'mbeddedin the bridge wall 2 of the'furnace', in such a manner that the ends of the bearing bars maymove freely in the boXes a's the b ars expand or contract, due

- the; top" olfr'thley Stoker are coking plates 16,

of" which' vany desired, number 'may' be yused. rihe''construction of these' Icoking'plates appears mostclearly in*v Figs, 4, 5,2 and 6.

so construction, but are liere shown as consist- Each plate comprises a frame 17 provided with depending portions 18 which are adapted to lit between the cross-bearing bar 7 and the inner face of the front wall of the furnace as shown most clearly in Fig. 1. The bottom of the frame comprises horizontal portions 19, above the outer ends of which is an inclined plate 20, the lower edge of which lies closely adjacent the upper edge of the topmos't stoking bar and the upper edge of which engages the inner face of the front wall of the furnace, preferably at the bottom of the doorways 5 through which fuel is introduced. The plate 2O is provided with a number of apertures 21 through which air may enter to burn oli the volatile constituents of the green fuel at the top of the fire-bed. As here shown, the apertures are in the form of two series of long narrow slots, but it will be understood that they may be of any other form. The bottom .member of the frame 17 is provided with notches 22 adapted to lit over the upper ends of the bearing bars when the coking plate is in place, as shown most clearly in Fig. 3. To aid in holding the coking plate in place upon the cross-bearing bar, one or more lugs 23 are provided. These lugs project from the bottoms of the horizontal portions 19 and are adapted to engage the inner face of the cross-bearing har, as shown most clearly in F ig. 1.

ln the construction illustrated in Fig. 1, each stoker bar comprises a pair of side members 24 equipped with trunnions which tit in the recesses 11 (Fig. 2) in the inclined hearing bars. r1`he side members 24 are connected by a curved shield 26 preferably formed integral with the side members. Each shield may be provided with a number of apertures as illustrated and described more in detail in my Patent No. 1,302,453. Attached to each curved shield 26 is a lug 29 by means of which the Stoker bars are operatively connected to actuating mechanism.

As shown most clearly in Fig. 1, the lug 29 ot veach of the several stoker bars forming the upper portion of the apparatus is connected to a rod 31 which is provided with a depending portion 32, to which is connected a rod 33 extending through an aperture in the front wall of the furnace and connected to a lever 34 mounted on a bracket The upper end of the lever is formed to enter a socket in a suitable hand bar for manipulating the lever and connecting rod-s to tilt the stoker bars. T he lugs 29 of the series of stoker bars forming the lower portion of the apparatus are connected to a second bar 31 by means of which these stoker bars mayv be operated independently .of the upper series of stoker bars by means 'ofa second rod and lever 34. As shown in the illustrated embodiment of the invention, each half of the stoker is made up of four stoker bars, but it will be understood that any other number may be used and that any number of adjacent bars may be connected together into a series, the bars of which may be operated independently of those of other series.

The grate surface of each grate bar is detachably secured to a transverse supportbar 42, the ends of which arebolted tov the side members 24 shown and described more i. detail in my Patent No. 1,302,453.

tirate surfaces suitable for use in the present invention are described and claimed in my copending divisional application, Serial No. 433,595, tiled December 28, 1920, and a somewhat different construction is disclosed and claimed in my copending divisional application, Serial No. 433,596.

ln assembling the stoker bars the lugs 29 may be attached to the shields 26 at the desired point to permit the connecting rods 31 I and the actuating rods 33 to occupy the correct position with respect to the levers 34 at the front of the furnace. rFhe cleaning` grate at the bottom of the incline over which the coal passes comprises side members 43 connected by a curved shield 50 carrying a lug which is pivotally attached to an operating rod 60. is detachable and overlaps the upper edge ot the curved shield 50 as described and vclaimed in my divisional application, Serial No. 433,669, filed December 28, 1920, patented Nov. 21, 1922, No. 1,436,215.

ln the operation of the stoker of the present invention, combustion of t-he fuel takes place primarily upon the stoker bars, but air may alsopass through the notches in the cleaning grate to burn any unconsumed fuel which may reach this grate. As shown most clearly in Fig. 1, the upper edge of each stoker bar lies closely adjacent to the serrated lower edge of the adjoining bar. The curved shields 26 prevent fuel from dropping between the bars when they are rocked,

but apertures in the shields permit suiiicient air to enter the fuel bed when the stoker 'bars are tilted to prevent any appreciable decrease in combustion.

rl'he fuel bedmay be advanced toward the cleaning grate from time to time by rst tilting the cleaning grate to dump the accumulated ashes therefrom and then tilting the lower series of stoker bars by manipula tion of the lever associated therewith to' cover the cleaning grate with hot coals and ashes. The lower series of Stoker bars is then restored to normal position and the upper series manipulated by' its lever 34 to tilt these bars and advance the upper portion of the fuel bed over the lower series of bars. Green fuel may be supplied at the top of the fuel bed from time to time as required. rEhe coking plate 16 will permit The aertorate orate surface 53 a sufiicient amount of air to be supplied to the green fuel to burn off the volatile constituents.

Any one of the units of the coking plates 16 may be removed for repair or replacement by simply lifting it off of the crossbearing bar 7. If at any time it becomes necessary to remove any of the bearing bars 9 the stoker bars and cleaning grates mounted thereon will be removed, and the bearing bars may be quickly taken out by lifting their upper ends off of the crossbearing bar 7 and freeing their lower ends from the supporting members in the bridge wall of the furnace.

While certain preferred embodiments of the various features of the invention have been shown and described, it will be understood that various changes in the details of construction of these several features may be made without departing from the principle of the invent-ion as deined in the appended claims.

I claim:

l. In a hand stoker having inclined bearing bars, and stoker bars mounted to rock thereon, a fixed supporting bar at the upper ends of the bearing bars and fixed bearing boxes for the lower ends of the bars, the bearing bars having hooked engagement with the supporting bar, and sliding engagement with the boxes, thereby to permit expansion and contraction without distortion of the bearing bars, the supporting bar being notched to reeeive the bearing bars thereby to prevent lateral movement of the upper ends of the bearing bars.

2. In a hand stoker having inclined bearing bars and a plurality of stoker bars mounted to rock on the bearing bars, the combination of a fixed supporting bar for receiving the upper ends of the bearing bars, said bearing bars having lugs engaging the face of the supporting bar remote from the bearing bars for holding the bearingk bars in place, and means for slidably supporting the lower ends of the bearing bars for per- 4 mitting said bars to expand and contract,

the supporting bar being recessed to receive the bearing bars to prevent lateral movement thereof with respect to the supporting bar.

3. In a hand stoker having inclined bearing bars and a plurality of stoker bars mounted to rock on the bearing bars, the

combination of a supporting bar uponwhich f the upper ends of the bearing bars rest, and an inclined ooking plate mounted on the supporting bar and provided with depending members adapted to engage one side of the bar and dependinP lugs' adapted to engage the other side ofP the bar whereby the ends of the bearing bars and `fixedbearing boxes for the lower ends of the bars, the bearing bars having hooked engagement with the supporting bar, and sliding engagement with the boxes, thereby to permit expansion and contraction without distortion of the bearing bars, and a perforate plate supported in inclined position by the supporting bar extending from the grate bars above the supporting bar.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

GEORGE HQRNELL THACHER. Jr. 

